MOTHER COUNTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 June 1916, Page 5

MOTHER COUNTRY.

, i'i ■-■ ■■ <* 1 v- :«SjSgg^ IMPERIAL RELATIONS. MR. HUGHES LEAVES ENGLAND. Received June 25, 3.5 p.m. London. June 21. Mr. Bonar Law, speaking at a farewell banquet that was tendered to Mr. Hughes, said that the resolutions of the Paris Conference may be taken as representing the settled opinion of the British Government.

Mr. Bouar Law added: "1 think that the first thing is to find if we can come to a general agreement regarding an imperial trade policy. It is noteworthy that Mr. Runeiman himself drafted a resolution, which was carried at the Paris Conference, whereby there is a stated period, after the war, during which the Allies will not resume trading relations with Germany. This shows that the. Coalition Government is not neglecting the subject, and we may have tiie whole question of tariff reform examined, free of party feeling." Other speakers suggested the possibility of Mr. Hughes' early return to Britain to continue his propaganda in favor of an inter-Imperial economic and political alliance.

Mr. Hughes made the political rela-' tions between Britain and the dominions after the war the chief topic of his last speech He insisted that our Empire is "no Empire," because it iff not bound by any )< gical, legal tie. These relations, he said, were well enough when the dominions were in swaddling clothes, but they must change, and make a radical change.

CONFERENCE AT DOWNING STREET. Recehed June 25, 5.5 p.m. London, June 24. Mr. Asquith presided at a conference in Downing Street to discuss the Paris Conference resolutions. Mr. Bdnar Law, Lord Crewe, Messrs Hughes, Lloyd George, Foster, Harcourt, Chamberlain and Samuel were present. THE WAGES QUESTION. Received June 25, 5.5 p.m. *~ London. June 24. Mr. Harcourt, in replying to a Trade Union deputation regarding the State control of food prices and the control of wages, said that, the vicious system of increasing wages, which resulted in increased prices, leading to demands for a further increase of wages, must be avoided. The Government could not allow exploitation of individual advantages in war time. There had been a general advance in wages by ten per cent., but the actual increase of earnings through regularity of work and overtime would probably work out at nearer forty per cent., but the cost of living, on the whole, had not increased more than forty per cent., and the consensus of expert opinion was against fixing maximum prices, which could not increase the amount of commodities available, and would merely tend to divert foreign supplies to other markets. If.the Food .Committee discovered that the publk were exploited by prices artificially inflated, the Board of Trade would immediately act. DECORATIONS. Received June 25, 5.5 p.m. London, June 24. Hitherto eighty six Victoria Crosses, one hundred and thirty Military Crosses. (1150 Distinguished Conduct Medals, and imo Military Medals have been distributed.

The King inspected a number of motor ambulances that have been presented to France by the members of Lloyds', and whi'h will be used behind the Verdun lines.

A NEW ZEALANDER DECORATED. Received June 2(i, 12.5 a.m. London, June 23. The Distinguished Conduct Medal lias been awarded to Sergeant G. Alexander, of the New Zealand Signal Company, for conspicuous good work and devotion to duty throughout the campaign.